1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of cropping images and, more particularly to a device employed in the cropping and reduction of visual works for use with articles of jewelry and the method for cropping and reducing the images of visual works.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The art of cropping images or reducing the focus of an image to a specific portion of the larger parent image is well known in the prior art, particularly in the field of photography.
Included among this prior art are the devices and methods shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,174,031 issued Dec. 29, 1992 to Davis; U.S. Pat. No. 2,018,542 issued Oct. 22, 1935 to Boughton; U.S. Pat. No. 5,534,971 issued Jul. 9, 1996 to Gaetano and U.S. Pat. No. 4,132,480 issued Jan. 2, 1979 to Reed.
Davis is directed to a proportional cropping template for film, contacts, or prints designed with various cutouts and having demarcations to give depth measurements when selected images are enlarged to a specific width size. One of a set of twelve master templates allows a user to slide or overlay it across the contact negative or print to find a cutout size that crops or masks an image to include the most pleasing composition whereby it is then traced. The inch marks along the sides of the template cutout are read so that the user is able to determine the depth size of a completed cropped print.
Boughton is directed to a set or series of photographic masks for use in preparing negatives for the making of enlarged prints from selected portions of the negatives. Each window on the mask is numbered in accordance with the degree of enlarging necessary to project a given size print. A part of a negative which is desired to project is located over the window of a selected mask and the negative is fastened to the mask by the use of gummed fasteners.
Gaetano is directed to a masking guide that includes a plurality of masking frames of different dimensions positioned concentrically within one another in a nested arrangement for selectively composing the content of a photograph. The masking frame provides a range of progressively decreasing print areas so that when it is positioned over a proof, the composition of the proof is viewable through the base frame and the hinged apertures can be positioned up out of the way or down over the proof until the desired inner frame is determined. To correspond with the selection, the negative is mounted on a crop card or mounting card that corresponds with the selected frame of the masking guide. Prints made from the negative with the crop card will have a composition as selected using the masking frame.
Reed is directed to a photographic cropping mask having prescored, detachable rectilinear openings with a common center. Also provided are indexing means and an optional adhesive material and/or crop marks to enable the mask to be positioned adjacent a transparent film to determine the cropping opening appropriate to the film image. The selected opening is produced by detaching it along an appropriate score line.
Other cropping devices and methods, such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,177,982B1 and 6,505,858B1, are also known in the prior art.
Neither the aforesaid references nor anything else known to applicant in the prior art discloses the improvements of the present invention directed to a device, and the method of employing same, used in the cropping and reduction of a photographic image or the like for use with articles of jewelry, comprising a rectangular sheet of material having a plurality of different size openings for overlaying an image and progressively smaller cropped versions thereof and a means combined with the overlayed image to standardize the sizes or dimensions of the images to assemble and integrate the images and the jewelry.